Benefits and Your Tax Return: Filing, Taxable Benefits and Overpayments

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) works out the Canada child benefit (CCB), the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit and related provincial payments from your tax return, so you file one every year, even with no income, and so does your spouse or common-law partner. CCB payments are recalculated each July from the previous year’s return. The CCB and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit are tax-free, while EI and the COVID benefits are taxable. If a recalculation shows you were overpaid the CCB or the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, the CRA sends a notice and can hold back refunds and future payments until the balance is paid.

On this page: Filing · Benefit year · Taxable or not · Overpayments · Reviews

Do you have to file a tax return to get benefits?

Yes. To get the CCB and the provincial and territorial payments that come with it, you file a return every year, and a spouse or common-law partner files on time every year too. This applies even when your income is tax exempt or you had none, and payments stop if a return isn’t filed. Filing is also how you’re considered for the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (formerly the GST/HST credit) and its provincial add-ons. A late return can pause payments; once it is assessed, the CRA decides what you’re owed and pays any missed amounts with the next scheduled payment. Payments can also stop for a while if the CRA can’t match or validate the information it has, so changes to your situation need to reach the CRA as soon as possible. The site’s page on filing with no income lists other reasons to file, and filing as a couple covers your partner’s return.

Which year’s income sets your payments?

The CRA recalculates the CCB every July using the previous year’s tax information. For the CCB, the current payment period is July 2026 to June 2027, based on your adjusted family net income from 2025.

An amount can also change partway through a benefit year. For the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit: CRA recalculates the benefit every July from the previous year's tax return, and also during the year when a reassessment of your or your spouse's or common-law partner's return changes your adjusted family net income, your marital status changes, the number of eligible children in your care changes, an eligible child turns 19, you start or stop sharing custody of a child, or a recipient dies; it then sends a notice with the revised amount. The Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit page has the full list. For dates, see the government payment dates calendar.

Which benefits are taxable or count as income?

This table shows how each program is treated on your return, as the government’s own pages describe it.

Social assistance payments aren’t taxable, but you still include them in net income so your benefits and credits are calculated correctly. You enter the T5007 amount on line 14500 and deduct the same amount on line 25000. Alberta says its energy rebate won’t affect other government benefits.

EI benefits are taxable whatever the type. If your net income for the year is above $86,125 (2026), you repay 30% of the lesser of the excess and the regular benefits you received, unless you received less than 1 week of regular benefits in the previous 10 tax years. Special benefits are never repaid. See how much you can earn before repaying EI. The COVID benefits are taxable and reported in the year you received them; repaying one is covered on the ended benefits page. The slips are compared in T4 vs T4A vs T4E.

Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan and the Guaranteed Income Supplement have their own pages: is OAS taxable, is CPP taxable and the GIS guide.

What happens if you were overpaid?

An overpayment comes to light when the CRA recalculates a benefit, and telling the CRA about changes as soon as you can helps avoid one. For the CCB or the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, the CRA sends a notice with a remittance voucher showing the amount owing.

What the CRA holds back depends on the benefit:

• CCB overpaid: the CRA may keep all or part of future CCB payments, tax refunds and Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit payments until the debt is resolved. It keeps CCB payments only for a CCB overpayment, and it doesn’t apply them to other tax or government debt.
• Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit: the CRA also applies these payments to other tax or government debts.
• Canada workers benefit advance payments: an overpaid advance appears on your notice of assessment for that year and is taken from that year’s refund.

The same can apply to other federal, provincial and territorial programs the CRA runs, and full payments resume once the debt is cleared.

You can pay the balance in the usual ways you pay the CRA. If you can’t pay the full amount at once, or repaying would cause serious financial hardship, the CRA asks you to call its benefit debt line at 1-888-863-8662 to set up a payment schedule or discuss options. More on payment arrangements and money the CRA has already taken.

What if the CRA reviews your benefits?

The CRA may send a letter asking for documents to confirm it has up-to-date information, such as your marital status, who mainly cares for the children, and residency. Your benefits continue during the review, but if you don’t reply they may stop and you may have to repay amounts already paid. Documents can be sent through the CRA’s online “Submit documents” service and need to cover the whole period under review. If you need more time to get the documents, the CRA asks you to call the number on your letter. The CRA says you should hear back within 45 days of it receiving the documents. To challenge a CRA decision, see how to dispute the CRA.

Where to go next

• Should you file taxes with no income?
• Why your GST/HST credit stopped or is lower
• Government payment dates
• All benefits on this site